Right! As if humans have anything to do with food or any other so-called problems. God gives me my food. If She wants to give me spoiled food, She will--just like She did in the bible! NOT MY BUSINESS.
Why We Need a National Food Policy
It's time to begin building a food system that will ensure access to green, fair, nutritious, affordable food for all Americans.
On November 7, 2014, UCS food and environment program director Ricardo Salvador joined prominent food thinkers Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, and Olivier de Schutter in a Washington Post opinion piece that calls on President Obama to issue an executive order establishing a national policy for food, health and well-being. A growing list of people are endorsing this call, including scientists, food activists, legislators, journalists, and business and labor leaders.
Below is a summary of the Washington Post piece.
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How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans’ health and well-being than any other human activity. Yet the United States has no food policy. That must change. A National Food Policy would coordinate government resources to guarantee that:
- all Americans have access to healthful food;
- farm policies are designed to support our public health and environmental objectives;
- our food supply is free of toxic bacteria, chemicals and drugs;
- production and marketing of our food are done transparently;
- the food industry pays a fair wage to those it employs;
- food marketing sets children up for healthful lives by instilling in them a habit of eating real food;
- animals are treated with compassion and attention to their well-being;
- the food system’s carbon footprint is reduced, and the amount of carbon sequestered on farmland is increased;
- the food system is sufficiently resilient to withstand the effects of climate change.
In short, the policy would assure that all would have access to food that is green, fair, nutritious and affordable.
The crisis in the food system—which is undermining the health of the people and the environment while contributing to economic inequality—is now widely recognized. More progress has been made in addressing these problems in the United States during the Obama administration than during any other in generations, but much remains to be done. A presidential statement supporting a National Food Policy would go far toward assuring this administration’s work continues in the future and overcomes the obstacles it faces.
Thus we urge the President to announce an executive order establishing a national policy for food, health and well-being. By officially acknowledging the problem and by setting forth a few simple principles on which most Americans agree, the introduction of such a policy would by itself create powerful momentum for reform.
There are precedents for such a policy. Already a handful of states are developing food charters, and scores of U.S. cities have established food policy councils, and Mexico, Brazil, and other countries have developed national food policies leading to important reforms.
The very act of elevating food among the issues the White House addresses would build public support for change. As soon as the government sets forth a food policy goal it will become easier to pass legislation supporting it and more difficult to pass bills that go against its principles.
Think of the food system as something that works for us rather than exploits us, something that encourages health rather than undermines it. That is the food system the people of the United States deserve, and President Obama, in his remaining time in office, can begin to build it.
<!-- Endorsers Will Allen (Director, Growing Power)
Greg Asbed (Co-Founder, Coalition of Immokalee Workers)
Fedele Bauccio (CEO, Bon Appétit Management Company)
Lucas Benítez (Co-Founder, Coalition of Immokalee Workers)
Earl Blumenauer (US Representative, Oregon)
Ben Burkett (President, National Family Farmers Coalition)
Ken Cook (President, Environmental Working Group)
Katie Couric (Global News Anchor, Yahoo! News)
Laurie David (Producer “Fed Up” Movie)
Rosa De Lauro (US Representative, Connecticut)
Joan Gussow (Professor Emeritus, Columbia University)
Ann Harvey Yonkers (Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Fresh Farm Markets)
Cynthia Hayes (Executive Director, Southeast African American Farmers Organic Network)
Gary Hirschberg (Chairman, Stonyfield Farms)
Michael Hodson (President, Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders' Association)
Wes Jackson (President, The Land Institute)
Saru Jayaraman (President, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United)
Navina Khanna (Fellow, Movement Strategy Center)
Anna Lappé (Co-Founder, Small Planet Institute)
Joanne Lo (Executive Director, Food Chain Workers Alliance)
David Ludwig (Professor, Harvard University School of Public Health)
Robert Lustig (Professor, University of California - San Francisco)
Preston Maring (Founder, Kaiser Permanente Farmers Markets)
Robert Martin (Professor, Johns Hopkins University Center For Livable Future)
Bill McKibben (Founder, 350.org)
Frances Moore Lappé (Author, Diet for a Small Planet)
Marion Nestle (Professor, New York University)
Wayne Pacelle (President and CEO, Humane Society of the United States)
Raj Patel (Research Professor, University of Texas)
Chellie Pingree (US Representative, Maine)
Bernardine Prince (President, Farmers Market Coalition)
Michael Roberts (President, First Nations Development Institute)
Tim Ryan (US Representative, Ohio)
Wendy Schmidt (President, Schmidt Family Foundation)
Brian Snyder (Executive Director, Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture)
Naomi Starkman (Co-Founder, Civil Eats)
Anim Steel (Executive Director, Real Food Challenge)
Deborah Szekely (Founder, Wellness Warriors)
Alice Waters (Proprietor, Chez Panisse)
Malik Yakini (Executive Director, Black Community Food Security Network)
Take Action
Call on President Obama to issue an executive order establishing a National Food Policy that will transform our food system to ensure healthy, sustainably grown food for all.
Tell President Obama: it's time for a National Food Policy. >
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